The process of reading “the Scarlet Letter” reminds me of the feeling of enjoying a cup of tea--- as I explored more about the plot, the complex themes gradually revealed chapter by chapter. After reading the first three chapters I estimated that Hester would probably end up dead tragically. While the next chapters made my thought drastically change and then I believed Hester and her daughter Pearl would go on their lives peacefully. The fact that Dimmesdale was Pearl’s real father didn’t surprise me, yet I was hugely astonished when I found out Dimmesdale confessed his sin in public and then passed away. The dramatic story really attracts readers’ attention, and what’s more, the meaningful themes of this outstanding work laid the foundation of its unique significance.
Her clothes being of the “coarsest material” and “sombre hue” (80) are evidence of the miserable feeling taking over her. As a result of her deception, Hester no longer obtains her former beauty. Instead, it is replaced with a dreary plainness. Hester is also affected emotionally. Before Hester was ever shunned by society due to the lies brought about by the scarlet letter, Hester was known to be a passionate woman.
Pearl: the Constant Reminder In the 1650's the strict Puritan community, in Boston Massachusetts punished those who sinned. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Hester, is punished and looked down upon for committing adultery. When Hester has her baby, Pearl, The Puritans see her as having a bit of evil in her. Pearl, who is a constant reminder to Hester about the sin she had committed, is a significant symbol in this novel. In the beginning of the novel, Pearl always reminds Hester of her sin, even though she does not mean to do so purposely.
As a role model for Topsy, Eva was able to lead by example especially during the crucial times when Topsy would get in trouble. She was a sweet little girl who even gave Topsy a necklace she dearly loved. After befriending Tom on a ship after a new slave owner purchased Tom, it was there when Tom saved her life after she fell into the water. She became one of the most important figures in his life. She was a symbol of hope innocence.
She begins to hide her luscious hair in a cap and almost seems to lose her femininity. She becomes an outcast in the town, living on the outskirts of town. Men, woman, and children constantly making fun of both Pearl and Hester increasing the affect of Hester's diminishing appearance. An example of this abuse can be seen in Pearl repeatable being called a "demon child" by the towns people. (Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter 89) It almost seems as if the scarlet letter has absorbed her beauty along with all the rebellious and fiery qualities of Hester, leaving a cold and lonely woman, her tenderness "crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more.
By that time she already had a glob of whitish scar tissue. She also remembered the words of her doctor, "If one is blind, the other will likely become blind too." Walker really has the ability to take control of the reader’s attention by introducing the conflicts in relation to her life before and after the accident. She uses the accident that happens during her childhood to prove that one’s mindset can be altered because of a profound experience and how her attitude completely transforms from a conceited and arrogant child into a newly reborn woman who sees a new kind of beauty within her life. The story emphasizes how low-self esteem can affect person's life and it is a story of Alice childhood devastation.
It is a way for Hester to make up for her wrong doing and a way for her to look inside herself and change something about her. It is the letter that makes Hester feel at fault and once she removes it she heaves “…a long, deep sigh, in which the burden of shame and anguish departed from her spirit”(159). The letter holds all the guilt and blame that Hester feels so that when she takes off the letter, the shame is removed with it. Hester also truly feels guilty about what she’s done because she feels sorry for her daughter, Pearl. Pearl often is looked upon as a child of a sinner and Hester sees the way other children treat her.
The town’s people at first recognize her as a stranger or outcast, but as time wears on people get over it and realize she is just as normal as any other human. “Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since”(Hawthorne et al. 139). The townsfolk have an unparalleled amount of jealousy for her having an affair, and being able to wear what the folks say is an attractive looking letter. The townsfolk develop a mysterious wonderment as to why Hester seems relatively unfazed wearing the letter day in day out.
She would always go over to Abuelitas house and help her with different things such as, planting wild lilies or different types of spices like cilantro (Viramontes 1176). The part that got me to where I knew that the young girl cared for Abuelita as much as Abuelita cared for her was when, at the end when she already knew that Abuelita had died she still cared for her by giving her a wash and just taking the time to be by her side. I felt like the end was really the main part of this story and that’s when I figured out what was the main point behind this whole story. At the end I was able to realize why this story was called “The Moths”. When she was holding Abuelita in the bathtub, she said “I heard you” (Viramontes 1179).
Tanner Whitaker Ms. Huber AP Lang/Comp 4 7 October 2014 Pearl Analysis section 2 Nathaniel Hawthorne paints a picture of hope for the future and change in Pearl’s character. One use of rhetoric is in his use of irony. Hawthorne uses irony when Pearl describes why the sun will not flee from her. She says, "I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!” This is ironic because in last chapter, Pearl made herself an A out of seaweed and placed it on her bosom, imitating Hester, yet Pearl seems as though she has forgotten that this has happened entirely.